I believe they test when ever you schedule your appointment year round... Anyway if you do go through it let me (us) know how it goes as I'm considering getting certified later this year as well...
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Illinois...
- Thread starter mothergoose
- Start date
I believe they test when ever you schedule your appointment year round... Anyway if you do go through it let me (us) know how it goes as I'm considering getting certified later this year as well...
I went through the NPIP testing in 2013 and oops until I read your post, I had totally forgotten that I have to renew it every year. The way it works in Illinois is that they first send an inspector and then hook you up with a tester in your area and depending on when they are available you can get your tests done. Fee is only $10 plus mileage charged by the tester. BTW the tester list on the state's website is not accurate and they could not find anyone local to do the testing (obviously there is not much business in Chicago). So finally they authorized a tester who was not authorized to do NPIP testing to do the tests. He is from the Beverly area so you should be able to get an appointment fast.
Not to mention the inspector who came out was not familiar with chicken keeping at all and the information he collected could have been filled out on a form myself (it was mostly information about breeds being kept etc.
You can PM me for more details.
As far as I know there is no AI certification in Illinois, however there must be way to get your flock tested but you can still never call it AI certified (since there is no official cert)
Sorry haven't responded to your message yet. Was dealing with some chicken and work related disasters.
Any solution for Young Trouble Makers
I have 3 gorgeous Orpington Cockerels. Blue, Mauve and Chocolate Cuckoo. They are about 7 months old now. started crowing about a month ago and getting frisky with the girls. They were kept in line first by the older girls and my existing Legbar rooster. However, while I was paying attention to my work during December, seems like things have gotten out of control in the chicken house.
I have observed them closely over the last couple of days and this is what they have done to the flock:
1. The Legbar rooster is not the boss anymore (at least not theirs)
2. My Alpha Rhode Island Red hen has been running around trying to stay away from them
3. My second in command Red Star hen has been hiding in a corner
4. Other Orpington girls also seem to be harassed.
5. One of the Chocolate Orpingtons who has been refusing to mate had a bloody comb this morning.
So in short since their hormones started flowing there is total chaos in the coop. Only the Legbar girls have manged to fend them off with some spunk and agility.
I am not sure what to do exactly at this point. I feel like separating them till Spring but have a feeling they will become more aggressive the longer I keep them separated. I am wondering if separating/rehoming 1 or 2 of them would be the solution because it seems like they are working in tandem and when they are together they kind of egg each other on.
Any suggestions how to tamper their behavior? People who have experience with roosters, will this phase pass as they age? or once an aggressive rooster is always an aggressive rooster. BTW they are not aggressive towards me or my son so may be I should label them aggressive maters (for the lack of a better word)
I have 3 gorgeous Orpington Cockerels. Blue, Mauve and Chocolate Cuckoo. They are about 7 months old now. started crowing about a month ago and getting frisky with the girls. They were kept in line first by the older girls and my existing Legbar rooster. However, while I was paying attention to my work during December, seems like things have gotten out of control in the chicken house.
I have observed them closely over the last couple of days and this is what they have done to the flock:
1. The Legbar rooster is not the boss anymore (at least not theirs)
2. My Alpha Rhode Island Red hen has been running around trying to stay away from them
3. My second in command Red Star hen has been hiding in a corner
4. Other Orpington girls also seem to be harassed.
5. One of the Chocolate Orpingtons who has been refusing to mate had a bloody comb this morning.
So in short since their hormones started flowing there is total chaos in the coop. Only the Legbar girls have manged to fend them off with some spunk and agility.
I am not sure what to do exactly at this point. I feel like separating them till Spring but have a feeling they will become more aggressive the longer I keep them separated. I am wondering if separating/rehoming 1 or 2 of them would be the solution because it seems like they are working in tandem and when they are together they kind of egg each other on.
Any suggestions how to tamper their behavior? People who have experience with roosters, will this phase pass as they age? or once an aggressive rooster is always an aggressive rooster. BTW they are not aggressive towards me or my son so may be I should label them aggressive maters (for the lack of a better word)
Separation is a good thing as it resets them to the bottom of the pecking order, and their raging 'teenage' hormones generally calm down after a few months...
While you are in the coop grab one of the trouble makers by their legs and hang them upside down while you do your things or just walk around the coop with them hanging upside down for about 15 minutes, in my experience most rooster seem to calm down after this and the others take note... And don't be shy about letting the other chickens take some pecks at the helpless dangling rooster at least within basic pecking order type of pecks... I find this works best as a means to reassert you into the dominate position but it also calms them down overall once they are 'shamed' like this...
I have found yes generally it passes as they mature and the hormones balance out, but not always some roosters just love to strut their stuff, bully everyone and try to breed anything that they can catch... I can always tell those roosters in my coop as the guinea fowl will have nothing of that type of behavior and pluck every tail feather from those frisky roosters...
Happy New Year Juni!
I would separate them from the main flock. It sounds like they are disrupting everyone and that is not good. They can stay together in one coop if your set-up allows enough room for them, otherwise put them in individual cages. Like @MeepBeep said, they will mellow with age but how much depends on the individual personality. Your Legbar rooster is/was probably run-ragged trying to keep the three of them in line. When I see this happening in my flock, I remove all the youngsters except the one/two that I may keep. The others go into the bachelor pad until I see how the ones I left with the flock are maturing. You did not mention if the Legbar and three trouble makers are all the males you have. If you are keeping all of them for breeding purposes, you will need to separate breeders into pens anyway so . If you don't need all of them, rehome whoever doesn't fit your plans.
I'm seeing the opposite with my orp roos. I still have both because they're still getting along. My former roos both got a horomone surge between age 8-12 mo, so I've done the upside down humiliation technique when they needed to learn their place. ("So look at the big tough rooster now" as I dangle him before the hens.) Our 1st Roo was too loud & over-mated the hens, 2nd Roo was a gentleman toward his girls but very unpredictable around people.
I was advised to keep our current boys until they hit maturity to see which one was better. I kept going back & forth as they grew into a responsible protection team. (One will guide the majority of the hens to safety & guard the door, while the other rounds up the stragglers.) Next week they will be 9 mo old & still no fighting. Because they started crowing (& mating) at 3.5 months old, I put them to bed in the garage each night. That way they can crow away & no neighbors will hear them. I carry them back to the coop every morning after 8am. Thankfully they're docile so I have one under each arm with their legs dangling. When they 1st see the hens, there's some chasing & mating (after all, they had to go all night without). If a hen declines, she often runs to my feet, & the roo stops his pursuit. In less than 5 min, things settle back to normal.
I'm not sure if my nightly garage cage is good or bad. I keep the boys together 24/7. I also don't know if that's the reason they're still so sweet. They're not snugglers (I have hens for that) but they will take treats from my hand & allow me touch them. They never squiggle when being held nor try to stand their ground. I never had to hold either one upside down. I keep waiting for that 1st peck or raised hackles. Could it be that they're calm because there's 2 instead of one? My former roos took about 6 months before mating began, but my current roos started mating the adult hens at age 14 weeks.(They left the pullets of same age alone. LOL) Could their hormone surge still be on it's way?
I was advised to keep our current boys until they hit maturity to see which one was better. I kept going back & forth as they grew into a responsible protection team. (One will guide the majority of the hens to safety & guard the door, while the other rounds up the stragglers.) Next week they will be 9 mo old & still no fighting. Because they started crowing (& mating) at 3.5 months old, I put them to bed in the garage each night. That way they can crow away & no neighbors will hear them. I carry them back to the coop every morning after 8am. Thankfully they're docile so I have one under each arm with their legs dangling. When they 1st see the hens, there's some chasing & mating (after all, they had to go all night without). If a hen declines, she often runs to my feet, & the roo stops his pursuit. In less than 5 min, things settle back to normal.
I'm not sure if my nightly garage cage is good or bad. I keep the boys together 24/7. I also don't know if that's the reason they're still so sweet. They're not snugglers (I have hens for that) but they will take treats from my hand & allow me touch them. They never squiggle when being held nor try to stand their ground. I never had to hold either one upside down. I keep waiting for that 1st peck or raised hackles. Could it be that they're calm because there's 2 instead of one? My former roos took about 6 months before mating began, but my current roos started mating the adult hens at age 14 weeks.(They left the pullets of same age alone. LOL) Could their hormone surge still be on it's way?
- Oct 24, 2014
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Hi Junibutt, I am following your post because I am in a similar situation. Hope Marco is Ok. My Al seemed to be the trouble maker of the group, because he was the last to mature. I did have a problem with him and Mick my bantam fighting. Which Mick had no chance over Al a large Orp. But since then they have calmed down. Al is still not a gentleman with the ladies, and once in a while it seems like the put their sites on 1 hen and its a chase. Really thinking about setting up those breeding pens as soon as possible to lessen the stress for the girls and calm these boys down.
Birds cannot be persuaded to accept new birds. You can introduce a rooster to a flock of hens, no problem. You can introduce several roosters that have been raised together into an existing flock of layers. I have done this several times before without fights, and I will be introducing three 5 month old roosters to live with my 7 layers in about a week, after butchering 11 of their brothers. You can combine two flocks of hens if you rebuild the flock one at a time to create a new flock.
You do this any other way and birds can kill each other. It really helps to do some reading on this site, because that's where I learned this.
You do this any other way and birds can kill each other. It really helps to do some reading on this site, because that's where I learned this.
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